So the big manila package arrived today. (When I was a little kid, I always thought adults were saying 'vanilla'...lots of 'vanilla folders.' You know, because they're yellow. Anyway.)
Very exciting! I can't wait to dig into this. There's something much easier about editing when you have specific instructions. Crossing out lines, changing word order, adding a sentence, deleting a paragraph. Just looks like a fun project.
Perhaps that's why I love getting reviews on my WIPs. It's brain food. It fuels me to do something, to look at it with new eyes.
For some reason Microsoft Word rebelled on me when my editor emailed back an electronic copy, though. It looked funny on the screen, but everything appeared to be normal: 12 pt font, normal margins. I couldn't figure out what it was until I printed it. It printed in 10 pt font (even though the document said it was 12 pt), with huge margins, putting a book-sized area of text in the middle of the page. I thought my editor had done something to the formatting for typesetting purposes. Apparently not...she didn't like the printed pages I sent her. (She asked me why I set my margins so huge. Yikes! She probably thinks I'm an idiot.)
And for the life of me, I could not get Microsoft Word to change the settings!!! I changed fonts, moved page margins, even tried changing the page orientation. No luck. I had to clear all formatting. All of it! Anyone else ever have Microsoft Word go nutsy like that? (Seriously. I'm not an idiot.)
So, now that I'm back to working on Perilous, where does that leave book #2? I'm going to make a few more changes today, and then I'm calling draft #2 good. Done. Time to submit it to critique groups and watch the reviews come in!
5 comments:
About the Word formatting, is it possible that you and your editor have different Word versions? Sometimes that will cause formatting problems, and a simple fix is to convert the program to the simpler version. Anyway, that's what I had to do once, and it worked. Good luck on your rewrites!
Karen--good question! I have no idea. I have an older version. Maybe that was the problem? I have it fixed now. Just cleared all the formatting. Ha ha!
Sorry you're not feeling the blog love. I've been dealing with a hubby health crisis the past several days, but here I am saying Hi.
I have to say as an editor (as well as a writer) that your attitude about being edited and critiqued is wonderful! It's nice to hear you embrace the process as part of making your work the best it can be. We editors get the reputation of being nitpicky meanies, and we really just want to make our authors look good.
Microsoft occasionally does that to the best of us. It's probably not you.
Also, congrats on finishing the draft of Bk. 2! Have fun editing over the holiday weekend. :)
Laurel--I'm so pleased with my editors suggestions! It's so fun to make the changes. Occasionally I don't agree w/ something, but I figure everything's negotiable.
Simon--yes, having book 2 done is so great! But you know what I discovered clearing all formatting did to book 1? It cleared all my italics! Everything!!! so now I'm trying to find all the thoughts and what else...grrr...
Post a Comment